I thought about the same thing one of my fears is though when the solenoid valve fails you could possibly be in a situation where you’re not getting any water
Yeah, as I was writing that my thought was “what if the pump burns out from smashing against the closed state”.
Is the problem that the water is just naturally following the ciphon and the plants are getting some extra water? Or does it leak? Mainly just curious - have been following this floraflex stuff quite attentively and considering it for a future build.
All you need is the flora flex quick connect, I have this one with the shut off valve.
A water pump to connect to the quick connect
Another water pump attached to a short hose if you want to circulate the water.
If your reservoir is sitting on the floor just put your flood tray on bricks instead of the floor and you won’t have to worry about it being higher than the reservoir to pump the water.
The problem is if the reservoir is higher than the bubbler after the pump shut off water continues to flow at a slow rate through the whole drip system. I don’t believe it would shut off until the bubbler is below the tank level. The simple solution is to make sure your bubbler is higher than your reservoir.
I think in most cases this normally isn’t a topic but it became an issue for me because I changed to the pool liner tank which is tall all the other reservoirs I seen are small low profile Small squares.
As you can see I’m still working out what I want to do because raising the bubbler creates a couple other hurdles to think about
Just create a weeping hole that’s what I did in my line cuz I was having the same issue … make sure the weeping hole is inside the reservoir at the highest point or you will water going everywhere when the pump turns on to feed …I was having the same issue did this and I was good. It releases that air in the line that’s causing that @Mpower11
Do you have a pic of the weeping hoke so we can see what you mean?
What @chris_barfield means is the black hose (your main feed line) make a finish nail size hole at the highest point of the hose in the res.
This will make the hose release its vacuum because it’s sucking in air stopping the syphon
The problem I have is I’m feeding from the bottom of my tank.
Hhheeeelllppppp!!!
Having trouble ph -ing water, can you send me the stats?
Not in ml because we don’t use that system much here.
What the ppm should be for five gallons?
What the ph should be for five gallons of water?
Should it be 5.5 - 6.5?
What the ec should be for five gallons of water?
Not for leach water.
I put in 2 teas of B1 then 2 teas of B2 then added 5 teas of cal-mag and
the ppm500 is only 1000
and the ph is only 5.2
the ec is only 2.0
what can I do to get the numbers right?
Added another teas of B2 and this is what I got…
ppm = 1160
Ph. =. 49
Ec. =. 2.3
Added 1/2 teas of ph up…
Ppm = 1170
Ph. =. 5.5
Ec. =. 2.4
Added the rest of the 5 gallon of water and got this…
Ppm. = 1020
Ph. =. 5.5
Ec. =. 2.0
B,
Just my two sense,
First, makes sure you know the pH value before you add anything to it.
Second, you want to add the Cal-Mag as your first supplement. This buffers the water that you are adding nutrients too. Hit the water with the pH meter again. It should be down a little bit 5.0-6.0. Doesn’t matter quite yet. Add all the tsp(teaspoon) of B/V 1 and then mix. Add tsp B/V 2 and then mix. At this point your EC will be up and pH will be down.
Lastly, Let the nutrient solution sit for 15-60 minutes to allow the pH to stabilize. Once it stops fluctuating you’ll start to add pH up to your solution. This is a bit of a guess and check process based on your source water and nutrients. Once you dial it in for 5 gals it’ll be about the same pH every time.
Your goal for Coco pH is 5.4-6.2 roughly. Different levels of pH allow for different nutrient uptake so you want this to vary slightly.
Your run off pH will be slightly higher than what you feed the plant.
As for your EC levels, you want it to be within a range of 1.4-2.2(max) depending on stage of growth. EC goes up with the amount of nutrients you add and goes down if you add water to the solution to “cut” it.
Hopefully this helps
Let me know if I need to explain anything differently.
The numbers you listed for pH, EC, and PPM look good at those rates. You could maybe add another half tsp pH up if you wanted a 5.8 pH,
but other than that it’s okay.
PPM range for flower will be 1000-1600 depending on how much concentrated you make your nutrient solution.
Also, just Incase you’re curious there’s 5 ml in 1 TSP or 15ml in 1 TBSP, just to help with conversions ever.
Everything @Brotherbuddah said sounds correct to me. I will jump in and tell you what I’m doing which isn’t much different
First off I haven’t mixed any B1 or B2 yet (still on V1 / V2) but that being said since I haven’t mixed any yet I don’t know how the nutes respond to the Ph with B1 and 2 to help guide you…
Example
Take your 5 gallons of water
- Add Cal-mag
- Add B1 (not sure how much I haven’t read the package yet lol)
- Add B2 (not sure how much I haven’t read the package yet lol)
- I add product to help release build up I use ( Enzymes Komplete Natural Enzymatic Cleaner) Chris uses Spf 1000 (maybe a type o there I forget but same idea)
Now for me I start my Ph off at 5.5 when it climbs to around 6.3 I bring it back down to 5.5
Like Brotherbuddash said let the PH stabilize
Now this is just my thoughts Ec Feed at 2000 is on the max side… My Feed is 1600 right now but my leach is 2000.
I was thinking about what you said the other day that you don’t have any leach I bet your nutes in your coco was high… This can lead to alot of problems the runoff help flush the nute buildup
@Mpower11, @Brotherbuddah.
Thanks so much this helps a lot!!!
I’m gonna stay where I’m at with the Ppm. = 1020
Ph. =. 5.5
Ec. =. 2.0
If you think that will be alright?
Also since I have no run off I’m going to change my bubbler from black = 6 GPH to red/orange = 10 GPH
Take off some yellow leaves today and switch light schedule from 18 hrs to 12 hrs.
One thing that doesn’t sound right to me is that your Ph was 4.9 after mixing the nutes.
Sounds low to me but without trying there nutes I’m not sure 100%. Do you have Calibration solution 7.0 to confirm your meter is correct?
Your fine with Ph 5.5 right now
Ec at 2.0 your fine also just need to watch it since your on the higher side of the range. The dryer you keep the coco the higher the EC will be in the Coco if it gets to high you will burn the roots. Since before you had no leach feeding 2.0 is more risky. Just my thoughts … Does that make sense
The Ph was 5.2 when I added the nutes but went down to 4.9 when I added more of the B2.
Makes sense so do you think I should add more water to the res?
Im purposely only putting five gallons in the res at a time incase I do have to adjust it won’t be the whole 20 gallons this time.
Does that read at (1600-2000) Ec = 1.6 - 2.0
or do you mean ppm
It can drop with adding nutes I was just trying to confirm your Ph is correct with the solution.
One factor is your using R/O water which doesn’t have a bluffer (swings alot but the cal/mag you add in step 1 will help control that swing)
Makes sense that your mixing less… I like to make what I feel will last 1 week.
The correct way to answer your question about is the feed EC to high would be to test your leach water. If it higher than 2.3 then yes I would add water and maybe even flush the plants a bit.
Now if you said you don’t want to test the leach water then I would drop the feed EC to be safe.
Honestly I just trying to keep you in the safe zone (give you a bit of room if it goes up in the Coco) I have concerns your high in the Coco because of the no leach in the past. Are the plants super dark in colour? That is a sign of high nutes.
1600 - 2000 does equal 1.6 - 2.0 (same thing)
No I’m not referring to PPM